Local and Indigenous management of climate change risks to archaeological sites

Abstract

Hundreds of thousands of significant archaeological and cultural heritage sites (cultural sites) along the coasts of every continent are threatened by sea level rise, and many will be destroyed. This wealth of artefacts and monuments testifies to human history, cosmology and identity. While cultural sites are especially important to local and Indigenous communities, a stall in coordinated global action means adaptation at a local scale is often unsupported. In response, this paper produces a practical climate change risk analysis methodology designed for independent, community-scale management of cultural sites. It builds on existing methods that prioritise sites most at risk from climate impacts, proposing a field survey that integrates an assessment of the relative cultural value of sites with assessment of exposure and sensitivity to climate impacts. The field survey also stands as a monitoring program and complements an assessment of organisational adaptive capacity. The preliminary field survey was tested by Indigenous land managers in remote northern Australia at midden and rock art sites threatened by sea level rise, extreme flood events and a range of non-climactic hazards. A participatory action research methodology-incorporating planning workshops, semi-structured interviews and participant observations-gave rise to significant modifications to the preliminary field survey as well as management prioritisation of 120 sites. The field survey is anticipated to have global application, particularly among marginalised and remote Indigenous communities. Wellplanned and informed participation, with community control, monitoring and well-informed actions, will contribute significantly to coordinated global and regional adaptation strategies.

Securing the Future of Cultural Heritage by Identifying Barriers to and Strategizing Solutions for Preservation under Changing Climate Conditions

“…Some recent studies conducted in Australia, Canada, U.K., and the U.S. found that climate adaptation prioritization is needed to make transparent decisions between what cultural resources to protect and preserve (for both current and future generations) and what cultural resources to release or "let go" e.g., [9,[58][59][60]. As such, prioritization decisions need to be informed by deliberation with multi-level actors about feasible strategies that integrate the significance of cultural resources with climate change vulnerabilities to ensure continued preservation of diverse heritage values and resources [61].…”

Adapting Cultural Heritage to Climate Change Risks: Perspectives of Cultural Heritage Experts in Europe

“…Pollard-Belsheim et al [20] investigated the effectiveness of existing adaptation strategies to preserve coastal archaeological sites with a focus on a range of adaptation solutions such as watertight barriers, wooden breakwaters, and gabion rock wall. Climate change adaptation solutions to archaeological sites were also studied by Carmichael et al [21] in indigenous communities in Australia. In the Republic of Tartasan in Russia, Usmanov et al [33] suggested adaptation measures to preserve coastal archaeological sites from coastal erosion such as building breakwaters, changes in land use and planting trees.…”

“…Efforts in the area of adaptation are yet limited to the dissemination of guidelines and recommendations for implementing adaptation measures [1,[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25], the identification of the determinants of adaptive capacity [26], and the identification of the barriers to adaptation [27][28][29][30]. Sabbioni et al [1,16] developed guidelines for adapting the European cultural heritage to climate change impacts, which were later adopted by the Italian Strategic Agenda [31,32].…”

“…Uncertainties in climate change projections are commonly referred to as a barrier in the literature. Carmichael et al [21] mentioned the limited availability of high-confidence climate change projections at the local scale. Phillips [27] also raised the issue of uncertainty in the climate change scenarios as well as the difficulty in interpreting them.…”

Increasing the Resilience of Cultural Heritage to Climate Change Through the Application of a Learning Strategy

“…Research accomplished to date on adapting our cultural heritage to climate change centres on the dissemination of guidelines and recommendations to implement adaptation measures (Sabbioni et al, 2010, Sabbioni et al, 2008, Heathcote et al, 2017, Haugen and Mattsson, 2011, Cassar, 2016, Pollard-Belsheim et al, 2014, Carmichael et al, 2017a, Fatorić and Seekamp, 2017a, Grøntoft, 2011, Hall, 2015 and on the identification of opportunities and barriers to adaptation (Phillips, 2014, Fatorić and Seekamp, 2017b, Carmichael et al, 2017b, Casey, 2018, Sesana et al, 2018. Preserving cultural heritage from the impacts of climate change requires a shift from reactive to proactive adaptation (Sesana et al, 2018).…”